92 Josiah Wedgwood CHAP. 



given the blessing, was beat down again, and so a 

 third time." 



We have already related how his elder brother 

 John Wesley was received at Burslem a few years 

 later ; how he was pelted with mud, and had no one to 

 protect him ; and how, at Congleton, he was even worse 

 received than at Burslem. All this, as Wesley admitted, 

 was the result of intense ignorance. There had been 

 no schools for the rising generation, and consequently 

 no education. The Midland Counties were for the most 

 part uncivilised, and still in the Dark Ages. 



There was no other cure for it than by opening up 

 the district by better roads to the influences of civilisa- 

 tion. There were no roads as yet. They were merely 

 lanes or trackways marked by upright stones. Arthur 

 Young, on his tour in the North of England in 1768, 

 describes them as " most execrable " and " infernal." 

 He could not help swearing as he passed along them, 

 or round them. The lanes were scarcely sufficient 

 for the slumpering along of pack-horses, let alone for 

 carts or carriages. The people of Burslem were often 

 short of coal in consequence of the badness of the ways. 

 The poor horses, though urged by lashing, could not 

 drag themselves or their carts through the deep mud. 

 They often fell, upset their loads of coal or crates of 

 earthenware, frequently broke a leg, and had to be shot 

 on the spot. 



The inland situation of Burslem, with its few pottery 

 villages, was thus exceedingly inconvenient. While 



